GTR Stagea - Final Prep Before Primer

The last few pieces of this kit have finally been finished off and so here is how the car sits now, ready for primer.

Now that it's all back together and on the ground it looks absolutely menacing. I never could have anticipated that it would come out this well. I feel like you can really see my growth over just the past couple of years when it comes to how detailed and all the shapes are and how much thought went into every single angle and line.

After I'd finished geeking out over how good it looked, it was time to lift it back up, take the wheels off and start prepping it for the first pass of primer.

So the way I like to do things is a little unconventional. Most people that deal with bodywork will get everything bang on perfect, and then hit it with 2 - 3 heavy coats of a filler / heavy build primer. After that all it takes is a little block sanding and then the piece is done.

I'm not that good.

I know that there are going to be a few issues with the lines or the curves on this, not so much low spots, more just the actual curve doesn't feel right or it doesn't flow how I want it to. So rather than waste the primer, I will instead go over the fender with 80 grit sandpaper, just to get rid of most of the coarser 40 grit scratches, and then give the whole panel a single coat of primer.

This is pretty much my way of unifying the panel and being able to look at it in one colour with one surface texture.

There are people out there that suggest guide coats or inspections sprays, but I've found that these have no real effect over bodyfiller since all the different colours from each layer and the hardness of each layer themselves will play with the light and stop you from seeing correctly.

So that's why I do it.

After that the last step left to do was to pull all the panels off, wipe them down with prepsol and then mask up the car for primer.